It isn’t all that often those athletes representing the likes of Ecole Secondaire Macdonald-Cartier or Lo-Ellen Park Secondary, or even Lockerby Composite, for that matter, feel right at home at St Benedict Catholic Secondary School.

Truth is that Matteo Rocca, Brian Fink, Gillian Obradovich and all of their teammates with the Sudbury Junior Badminton Club are likely exceptions to the norm.

In non-pandemic times, the Bears Den also serves as home, at least a couple of times a week, to coach Troy Brushett (teacher at St Ben’s) and the members of the SJBC.

That might explain the quasi home court advantage that the above-noted trio and others enjoyed at the 2022 SDSSAA Badminton Championships last weekend as the qualifying slate for the NOSSA playdowns at the very same venue was determined. Though, as Fink quickly noted, to some extent, a court is a court is a court.

“I would say I am more comfortable at St Ben’s, but all of the badminton courts are essentially the same,” opined the 17 year-old multi-sport talent (Fink is also a long-time rep baseball player) who teamed with partner Jacob Lamothe in boys doubles play, giving the partners dating back to grade seven the only gold medal performance for the Panthères this year.

“The only difference between St Ben’s and my school is that the walls are a bit closer at Mac-Jack – and sometimes, the roof is a little bit lower (at some schools), so you might have to change things up a bit.”

Schoolmates since their intermediate days at ESMC, the Fink-Lamothe duo stopped the St Charles College team of Oscar Kunkar and Alex Chartier in the final, translating a style of play that incorporates both similarities and differences into their banner winning doubles badminton game.

“I would say that we’re pretty similar except that Jacob has a bit of a better smash, so I tend to play a bit more defense, when we can, and Jacob will play a bit more front, cutting the bird off,” said Fink.

While the numbers at the Sudbury Junior Badminton Club had been on the rise, prior to Covid, the truth is that these club athletes represent a relatively small portion of the total field at the Sudbury high-school badminton championships in a given year, creating something of a spectrum of challenges for the SJBC regulars, depending on what kind of opponents they are facing.

“We try and be a little more precise against teams who know what they’re doing compared to just athletes who don’t know how to punish mistakes,” said Fink. Apparently, that holds true as much in singles play as it does in the doubles game.

“I couldn’t believe the athleticism,” stated senior boys singles champion Matteo Rocca of Lo-Ellen. “You have guys who may not have high end badminton skills, but they are very natural athletes. Those guys are hard to beat.”

“The most important shot against the natural athletes is a push to their backhand, because the backhand is the hardest shot to make in badminton,” added the 16 year-old mainstay within the NOBA (Northern Ontario Badminton Association).

Competing at the SDSSAA tournament for the first time ever, Rocca was rewarded for staying the course, even as the pandemic created some pretty crazy practice schedules along the way.

“I trained a lot in North Bay at KTP Racquet Club,” said the grade 11 student. “Their drills really helped me improve during the pandemic and then working out at the Baseball Academy (once they could) with (coaches) Troy (Brushett), Mickey (Obradovich) and Jim (Duff) – that really helped as well.”

Though he noted some improvement right across the board, the most pronounced progress came via his movement around the court. “My footwork definitely improved,” suggested Rocca, who bested Christian Munch of Collège Notre Dame to take gold in the men’s senior singles event.

“I’m missing less shots: less drops, less smashes. I’m able to continue rallies without messing up simple shots. I am just much quicker.”

As for the drills that accomplished this feat with his feet, Rocca explained that it wasn’t anything that was particularly complicated, conceptually speaking. “The coach would lift the bird to the back, then he would do a simple drop, a net shot so that I would come up and get it, and then he hits to the other side and I get back to hit a drop, then back to the net – it’s just a simple rally drill like that.”

Remaining senior division champions include NOSSA favourite Gillian Obradovich (Lockerby) in the girls singles event, the Lo-Ellen tandem of Amanda Symington and Molly Lafrantaisie in girls doubles, as well as the mixed doubles team of Farrah Farstad and Blake Rosener from St Charles College.

Five different schools were represented in the juniors winners’ circle, with Champlain (Caleb Lalonde – boys singles), Horizon (Chloe Beaulieu – girls singles), Lo-Ellen (Nolan Kuhlberg / Nathaniel Couture – boys doubles), Rivière-des-Francais (Chloée Beaulieu / Ashley Touchette – girls doubles) and Lockerby (Lauren Pineau / James Bertrim – mixed doubles) all returning with an extra banner to hang in their respective gymnasiums.

As for the grade nine class, the Alouettes showed the way with a pair of winners from CND (Theo Lefebvre / Elliot MacDonald – boys doubles; Addison Parisé / Rheanna Crépeault – girls doubles), while Will MacKay (boys singles – Lasalle), Bailey Raymond (girls singles – Sacré Coeur) and St Charles College (Taryn Rollins – Cole Rosener – mixed doubles) also topped the podium.

Following are the top five finishers in each of the 15 divisions:

Senior Division
Boys Singles
1st - Matteo Rocca - LOE
2nd - Christian Munch - CND
3rd - Jérémie Lemieux - CND
4th - Braeden Morin - CND
5th - Lincoln McCourt - BAC
5th - Liam Collette - ESMC

Girls Singles
1st - Gillian Obradovich - LCS
2d - Clara Dissanayake - LOE
3rd - Kianna Trottier - HOR
4th - Hayley Bertrand - SC
5th - Willow Cooper - STC
5th - Amrei Schlofeldt - MMT

Boys Doubles
1st - Brian Fink/Jacob Lamothe - ESMC
2nd - Oscar Kunkar/Alex Hartier - STC
3rd - Tanner Rollins/Logan West - STC
4th - Owen Pawluk/Noah Squires - LAS
5th - Owen MacDonald/Ryan Remington - LIV
5th - Roch Renaud/Matthew Muzzi - STC

Girls Doubles
1st - Amanda Symington/Molly Lafantaisie - LOE
2nd - Madison Huntington/Erin Coles - LOE
3rd - Sydney Laframboise/Sarah Charbonneau - RDF
4th - Calli Evans/Staysha Kasunich - LCS
5th - Kaitlyn MacNeil/Taylor MacNeil - CFD
5th - Abby Lanteigne/Kamryn Hammel - LCS

Mixed Doubles
1st - Farrah Farstad/Blake Rosener - STC
2nd - Ella Kissner/Zander Lauzon - ESMC
3rd - Haven Fournier/Andrew Sullivan - CND
4th - Adyson Radey/Cameron Showers - LAS
5th - Katie Pilon/Alex Suominen - ESMC
5th - Alison Symington/Michael Yao - LOE

Junior Division
Boys Singles
1st - Caleb Lalonde - CHMP
2nd - Callum Baron - LCS
3rd - Zackary Vaillancourt - HOR
4th - Sam George - LCS
5th - Aleksander Duguay - LCS
5th - Josh Diplock - STB

Girls Singles
1st - Chloe Beaulieu - HOR
2nd - Isabelle Jonas - SC
3rd - Haven Johnston - CHMP
4th - Madison Smith - CHMP
5th - Grace Thomas - LOE
5th - Sara Teddy - LOE

Boys Doubles
1st - Nolan Kuhlberg/Nathaniel Couture - LOE
2nd - Atom Thususka/Liam Binks - LCS
3rd - Anthony Bertrand/Julien Jobin - BAC
4th - Simon Wright/Max Vendette - SC
5th - Félix Carrière/Jeremy Seguin - RDF
5th - Kevin Royster/Gabriel Beland - CFD
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Girls Doubles
1st - Chloée Beaulieu/Ashley Touchette - RDF
2nd - Abby Managhan/Kate Rolston - LCS
3rd - Tara Guse/Brooke Williams - MMT
4th - Mikaela Boucher/Danika Newton - RDF
5th - Malika Carrière/Charly Roberge - RDF
5th - Payton Stos/Carley Sobiera - LIV

Mixed Doubles
1st - Lauren Pineau/James Bertrim - LCS
2nd - Mira Toffoli/Ahmed Mohammed - LOE
3rd - Brianna Lessard/Dylan Dutrisac - LCS
4th - Bay Jones/Brendon Roney - LCS
5th - Helen Nguyen/Jacob Lamoureux - STB

Novice Division
Boys Singles
1st - Will MacKay - LAS
2nd - Isaac Jeanveau - BAC
3rd - Zachary Neron - SC
4th - Devon Leclair - LCS
5th - Owen Rajotte - CND
5th - Owen Mainville - CND

Girls Singles
1st - Bailey Raymond - SC
2nd - Tia Nootchtai - LCS
3rd - Isabelle Gilbert - HOR
4th - Cameron O'Daiskey - BAC
5th - Tylee Sasseville - MMT
5th - Aida Santhosh - MMT

Boys Doubles
1st - Theo Lefebvre/Elliot MacDonald - CND
2nd - Ryan Noel/Caleb Ross - HOR
3rd - Logan Labelle/Joel McFadden - ESMC
4th - R.J. Blais/Alain Levesque - ESMC
5th - Evan Mantha/Seth Turnbull - BAC
5th - Logan Sullivan/Loic Ouimet - CND

Girls Doubles
1st - Addison Parisé/Rheanna Crépeault - CND
2nd - Sophie Boucher/Gabrielle Luoma - CND
3rd - Sasha Bouffard/Alaina Marolt - CND
4th - Danika Belanger/Reanna Tremblay - ESMC
5th - Gabrielle Demers/Emilie Labelle - ESMC
5th - Cassie Seguin/Briana Bouffard - RDF

Mixed Doubles
1st - Taryn Rollins/Cole Rosener - STC
2nd - Audrey Dupuis/Brayden Bertrand - SC
3rd - Danika Tremblay/Yanic Venne - ESMC